Lawn mower



M. s. RAMS'EY LAWN MOWER Filed June '27. 5 Sheets--Sheet 2 www@ M. S.4 RAMSEY LAWN MOWER Filed June 2'? 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Parent @et r, rane.

erre

nr, or nnrnorr,

'1:elG, ASSIGNOR T0 MOTU-MDWER COMPANY,

F DEIT, MICHXGAN A. COBPGRATION 0F MIGGAN.

application ined rune ar, i921. Lserial no.- esatta To aZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MARK S. RAMSEY, a citizen of the United States of America, residin at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and tate of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lawn Mowers, of which the following is a specilicatiOm'reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to lawn mowers and has for one of its objects the provision of a construction which can be readily propelled and guided manually and in which the ower required for operating the cutter is erived from'a motor. Another object is the provision of a construction in which the motive power can be used to propel the lawn mower and can be applied to either or both of the ound wheels. A further object 2'@ is to rovi e a handle for the lawn mower capab e of being folded to make .the lawn mower more compact in shipping. Still further objects of the vinvention are to provide a novel form of mechanism kfor mounting the 25 bed knife or cutter bar and for adjusting the same; and toI provide anti-friction bearings for the knife reel which are adjustable to take up wear. With these and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel features of construction andY combinations and arrangements of parts as more fullyv hereinafter set forth.

ln the dra: f

Figure 1 is a front elevation with arts 5 broken away, of alawn mower embo ying my invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof with parts broken away;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a portion thereof with a ground wheel removed; A

Figure 4 is a cross section through the mounting for the bed knife or cutter bar;

Figure 5 is a cross section through one end of the lawn mower, particularly showing the anti-friction bearing for the knife reel;

Fi re 6 is a detail view.

t 11s the' revoluble knife reel preferably having the spirally arranged cutting blades 2,. and 3 is the stationary cooperating bed knife or cutter bar. These arts are mounted upon a light frame pre erably comprising side lates 4 and cross bars 5. 6 are ground w eels at the outer sides of the side plates 4, and 7 is a roller adjustably mounted at the rear`of the side plates.

8 is a motor preferably of the two-cycle internal explosion engine type which is mountedupon the base plate 9 in turn secured to the cross bars 5. The crank shaft 10 of this motorfis provided with asuitable driving connection to the shaft 11 of the knife reel, such as the chain 12 engaging the sprockets 13 and 14 respectively upon the crankshaft and knife reel shaft. As shown particularly in Figure 6, the sprocket wheel 13 is rotatably mounted upon the crank shaft 10 and is frictionally held from rotation relative thereto by means of the coil spring 13 yieldably forcing the sprocket wheel against the washer 132 ixedly secured to the crank shaft and preferably formed of asbestos or the like. This washer abuts the nut 15 threaded upon the end ofthe shaft and formed with a suitable jaw y15 for' engagement with a starting crank. For holding the -nut from rotation there is a pin 16 adapted to extend through one of a number of transverse holes in the nut and the transverse slot 16 in the shaft, which permits of adjustment of the nut upon the shaft.

For propelling the lawn mowerv from the motor, there are the friction pulleys 17 fixedly mounted upon the ends of the knife reel shaft 11 and which are adapted to yengage the inner faces of the peripheral flanges 18 upon the ground wheelst. To permit of this engagement, the ground wheels are pref- 'erably journalled upon the shaft 19 which is mounted upon the rock arms 20 pivoted at 21 upon the side plates 4 and adapted to be actuated by the rods 21 mounted upon the handle. This handle comprises the side bars v 22 which are connected at their inner ends to the side plates 4 of the frame and also the handle bar 23 surrounding a rod 22 eX- tending between .the outer ends yof the side bars. The outer ends of the rods 21 are pivotally connected to lugs 24 upon the handle bar and the latter is irevoluble to longitudinally move the rods 21 to rock the rock arms 20 and thereby swing the wheels 6 into or out of engagement with the pulley wheels 17. The shaft 19 for the ground wheels extends through the elongated apertures l25 in each ofthe side plates 4 thereby permitting of the swinging of the ound ground wheels. 26 are coil springs connected to the side-plates 4 and to the ends of the rock arms adjacent to the rods 21 for yieldably moving the ground wheels' 6 in a direction to engage theirI peripheral flanges with the pulley wheels when the-rods 21 are in their forward positions of adjustment; but upon movement of the rods 21 to their rearward positions as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 2, the coil springs are placed under ltension and the ground wheels are withdrawn from engagement with the pulley wheels. rl`lie rods 21 are held in their rearward position due to the tact Athat their outer ends are ott-center but are limited from further movement by engaging the handle bar 23.

'lo facilitate shipment of `the lawn mover, each of the side bars 22 comprises the inner and outer bars 27 and 28 respectively which are pivoted to each other at 29 and are held in alignment by the bolt 30. Each ot the control rods 21 also comprises the inner l and outer rods 31 and 32 respectively which are pivotally secured to each other, and the inner rod of which is slidably mounted in the strap 33 removably secured to the inner bar 27. By removing the bolts and disconnecting the straps 33 from the inner bars 27, the handle can be folded so that the outer side bars 28 can occupy the position shown by thedash line 34 in ltigure 2 in which position the inner rods 31 of the control rods occupy the position shown by the dash line 34. v

lin order to readily guide the lawn mower and at the same time drive the same by its motor, the handle bar 23 is divided interme- 40.. diate its ends to form the bars 35 and 36 which are rotatable independently of each other so that either or both of the ground wheels 6 may be placed in rrictional contact with its respective pulley wheels 17.

To provide a simple and eicient mounting for the 'bed knife or cutter bar 3 which will permit of its being readily adjusted, there is as shown particularly in Figure 4 the screw 37 threadedly engaging the side plate 4 and having the semi-spherical lower lend 38 which engages in a correspondingly shaped recess in each end of the cutter b-ar. Bolts 39 extend through the side plate and cutter` bar at opposite sides of the screw 37 for adjusting the cutter bar and maintaining the same in its adjusted positions.

The lznife reel shaft 11, shown particularly in Figure 5, is mounted at each end in the anti-friction bearing 40 within the enlarged cu -shaped portion 41 of the side plate 4. his bearing comprises the inner and outer racemembers 42 and 43 respectivelly having conical 'faces for engagement with the conical rollers 44. 45 are bearing washers at the outer end of the inner race member 42, and 45 is a shoulder upon the shaft Lariano 11 adjacent to the outer bearing washer. For limiting end play of the shaft and talring up lost motion in the bearings, there is the collar( 46 threadedly engaging the shaft at one end and adapted to abut the adjacent outer bearing washer to adjustv the inner race member 42 outwardly relative to the shaft. rlhe collar 46 is held in its position of rota-` tive adjustment upon the shaft 11 by suitable means such as the bolt 47 threadedly engaging the sprocket wheel 14 and extending into one of a series of apertures 48 in the collar. Suitable packings 49 and 50 areI provided betweenthe shaft 11 and the cuz;fly shaped portion 41 and between the bear' washers 45 and the cup-shaped portion n... for retaining the lubricant and keeping dust and dirt out of the bearings.

Vthat li' claim as my invention is:`

1. A lawn mower comprising a frame, a rotary cutter upon said frame, a motor mounted upon said frame for driving said cutter, ground wheels at opposite sides ot said trame, a oldable handle comprising inner and outer side bars connected to saidframe and pivotally connected to each other9 means for detachably securing said inner and outer side bars in substantial alignment with each other, and a foldable member mounted upon said handle for controlling the driving of said ground wheels trom said motor, said member comprising inner and outer rods pivotally connected to each other.

2. A lawn mower comprising a frame, a rotary cutter upon said frame, a motor mounted upon said frame for driving said cutter, ground wheels on opposite sides of said frame, a foldable handle comprising pivoted inner and outer side bars connected to said frame, removable means for detachably securing said inner and outer side bars in substantial alignment with eachL other, and a handle bar, aguide removably mounted upon said inner side bar, and a toldable member mounted upon said handle for controlling the driving of said ground wheels from said motor, said member comprising pivoted inner and outer rods, said inner rod slidably engaging said guide, and said outer rod connecting said handle bar, said handle and controlling member being foldable upon removing said means for securing the inner and outer side bars in substantial alignment with each other and said guide.

3. A lawn mower comprising aframe,

rotary cutter upon said frame, a motor upon said frame fordrivmg sa1d cutter, roclr arms swingingly mounted on said frame, a

shaft carried by said rock arms, ground -l wheels mounted on the shaft at opposite sides of said frame, a oldable handle comprising inner and outer side bars connected to said frame and pivotally connected to each other,

headed elements securing said inner and 3"? einem outer side bers substantiel eli-fw. nent with each other, and e foldeble inem mount/ed 'rotatable drive members carried by `seid frame, .e driving'commeczionv between seid members and motor, rock erms swingingly mounted on said reme, ground engeging wheels carried Toy seid rockerms, endmeens for swinging seid Wheels into engegement with seid rotatable members to be driven thereby, member end e; foldelole handle coected to the iframe, seid oldeble handle comprising inner and outer pivotailly connected side bers, e rod connecting seid outerl side bers, and e sectional handle ber rotatably mounted on seid rod, seid oldeble member coinprising inner end outer pivotelly conneeied seid ineens including e iolgleble rods secured respectively to seid rock ernis A and the .seotionsof sind rofeibelole .handle bei'.

ln testimony whereof li e y eignemre;

j MARK S.. RSEY 

